Helium rises as war threatens medical and semiconductor supply
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW – 30 MARCH 2026
The first shipment from Trent Spry’s helium well in Colorado was being loaded onto a truck when Iran’s attack on the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant changed everything.
The world is now short of helium, which is ranked as a critical mineral in the
Blue Star helium boss Trent Spry. The ASX-listed company recently started producing the gas from its project in Colorado. Trevor Collens
The world is now short of helium, which is ranked as a critical mineral in the European Union, and prices are rising faster than a balloon filled with the inert gas.
“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart. We hadn’t put an offtake in place,” says Spry, whose ASX-listed company Blue Star Helium is now negotiating its first sales amid a once-in-a-generation price boom.
In such a small industry, prices are opaque. But most reports suggest the price has roughly doubled from the $US300 ($438) per thousand cubic feet that was accepted as the industry norm about a month ago.
Helium has for decades been an important consumable for the medical industry, which relies on the gas to cool the magnetic resonance imaging machines that provide insights into busted knees and brain tumours.
The world’s big helium suppliers, European companies Air Liquide and Linde, also send large volumes to Taiwan where it is an important input for semiconductor manufacturers.
Spry says interstellar explorers such as SpaceX chief Elon Musk were also adding to demand.
“The big growing use case is rocket launches,” said Spry. “There’s not enough helium for all the satellites he [Musk] wants to put up.”
Spry isn’t the only one calling a helium shortage.
International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol this week named helium [https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/crisis-a-reminder-fossil-fuels-still-key-to-global-economic-health-20260323-p5rnyo] alongside sulphur and fertilisers as the commodities that could be in short supply while the world was focused on oil, gas and fuels.
Air Liquide vice president Armelle Levieux said that a helium shortage was not theoretical, but already in play.
Air Liquide told Reuters it was shuffling its global distribution network to protect important customers, and Taiwan is now seeking more helium from the US.
Sonic Healthcare and I-Med are among the biggest providers of MRI services in Australia. An I-Med spokesman said his company was not experiencing shortages.
“I-MED is confident that we have sufficient helium supply across our network, with appropriate contingencies in place to manage potential disruptions,” he said.
“At this stage, we do not anticipate any need to reduce MRI services as a result of helium supply constraints.
“We are also continuing to evolve our technology strategy, including investing in newer low-helium MRI systems that significantly reduce reliance on helium compared to traditional machines.”
Blue Star has six wells drilled at its Galactica project in Colorado, where helium and carbon dioxide are extracted from underground.
Direct extraction of helium and carbon dioxide – which is sold for a range of industrial processes including food production – means Blue Star is one of the few helium producers who do not make it as a byproduct of LNG.
The company plans to do a further three or four wells at Galactica by Christmas.
“We already have an adjacent field that we’ve discovered called Pegasus, which, if we had the capital, we could actually start deploying that,” said Spry.
Blue Star, which has a market capitalisation of about $40 million, plans to seize on the helium boom and raise capital this week to help fund its future growth projects.
SOURCE: AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW